Sweet Dreams
by Lizeth
Summary: Harry Potter has a wish. Kimihiro Watanuki has the power to grant it, if he teaches Harry to breech the realm of dreams where dead and living collide... Co-written with Serena Inverse.
1. Window

**Serena Inverse**: Hello, and welcome to the first chapter of _Sweet Dreams_! I'll be your other author alongside Lizeth. I'd firstly like to thank Lizeth for letting me work and play around with her ideas so much, despite me being a completely unknown writer! I'd also like to thank the authors of all the characters in this story (none of whom belong to us) for creating such wonderful characters and worlds.

With no further ado we present chapter 1, I hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it.

* * *

** Sweet Dreams   
by Serena Inverse and Lizeth Hallington**

**Chapter 1**

Harry let his forehead fall softly onto the window in front of him. There was a dull thud that resonated across the glass and he pressed his hands onto the cool surface as well, ignoring the fact his Aunt Petunia would berate him for putting greasy handprints all over the window.

It had been a whole month since he'd returned from Hogwarts, and although he had to admit that after the warning from the Order, he'd been treated slightly better then normal, his life was darker then usual.

Sirius was gone, and he wasn't coming back. That dark thought was somehow overpowering all the other problems he faced in his life, shoving Voldermort and his Death Eaters deep down into the depths of his mind and locking them underneath a wall of sorrow. He knew he should be worrying about the imminent threat to the whole wizarding world, but all he could think of was his own heartache. The only family he'd ever truly had... and he'd let him be snatched away. Harry hit his head harder on the glass.

"It shouldn't have happened like that... It shouldn't..."

He growled as he felt moisture on his face and scrubbed hard at his eyes with a dirty sleeve before lifting his head to look back out the window. The world outside was grey and overcast; it was raining. Typical.

He sighed, took a breath. It didn't help. He glanced down at the photo album given to him by Hagrid all those years ago, a few of the pictures had Sirius in, if only in the background. Strange to think that he somehow missed him more then his own parents. Then again, he had no real memory of his parents, only these photos and what people had told him. It was harder to miss a distant memory then a person you'd known living and breathing.

Hedwig hooted in her cage and shifted about on her perch. Harry sent the bird a sympathetic glance. She needed to stretch her wings. He'd been neglecting her.

He stretched his legs and wandered over, unlatching the cage and letting Hedwig hop onto his arm. The white owl seemed to have sensed her master's bleak mood; she'd barely complained or made much of a fuss since they'd returned. Harry stroked her feathers and sighed.

"I'm really pathetic, aren't I, girl? Moaning on like this, Sirius... he'd be mad at me for moping over him when there's a job to be done."

She hooted softly and nipped his thumb affectionately. Harry smiled at the bird with sad eyes and ran his fingers through her feathers again.

"I just wish... I know it's stupid, but there's so much more I wanted to tell him, that I wanted to ask him... I just wish I could see him... one more time." He sighed. "But there are some things even magic can't do."

The owl stared at him quietly.

Harry shifted her weight and opened the window with his free arm.

"Have a nice flight, Hedwig," he said as she soared out the window.

Harry watched as she floated like a spectre through the night sky, soaring up towards the big round moon. He wondered for a moment where a bird as smart as Hedwig went when she wasn't hunting -- when she just wanted to stretch her wings. It would be interesting to know. He smiled sadly and settled back down to look through his photo album again before his Aunt called him down to eat something and then clear up after the meal.

* * *

It was much, much later when Hedwig reached her destination. She fluttered down onto the long elegant arm that was held outstretched and folded her wings in neatly. The arm's owner gave her a minute to regain her wind after the long flight and then amber eyes met deep maroon red.

The woman smiled enigmatically at the bird, and Hedwig felt the air around her shift and coil like the smoke coming out from the long pipe held in the woman's free hand.

"So..." the mysterious woman said simply, "Shall I grant your wish?"

The owl hooted at her.

"You know that there will be a price?"

Hedwig hooted indignantly.

"Very well, what is your wish?"

Hedwig dropped a rag of paper on the floor from somewhere underneath her feathers. It was picked up and examined for a moment before the owl was stared at in earnest.

"You understand what this entails? The danger?"

The owl hooted at her for a few minutes.

"Oh?" the woman said, sliding one long leg over the other, exposing a scandalous amount of thigh underneath her slitted black dress. She sucked on her pipe for a few minutes, staring at the moon in the sky and contemplating.

"I know who you need, the best person to grant this person's wish..." She grinned and continued, "He complains a lot but he's a hard worker, and his attitude suits your stubborn charge... But getting your charge to him unnoticed will be the true difficulty. For what you can afford to pay, this intervention and the circumstances necessary to allow your charge to reach his destination will be the most I can do. Do you understand?"

Another hoot in the night.

"Very well." She stood, turning back to face the house. "Then let your wish be granted."

Yuuko Ichihara, as beautiful as she was strange and powerful, smirked at the owl and then snapped her fingers.

"Maru! Moro! Find Mokona, we've got work to do!"

There was movement from within the house as two hyperactive children bounced forth and started to run around in search of Mokona.

Hedwig watched with apprehension. She was starting to think that she was prescribing her master a life or death remedy, but... she had faith in him.

"All right owl," Yuuko said, startling Hedwig as the Dimensional Witch turned and pushed up her sleeves. "We need to make some modifications."

The look in the woman's eyes could have made Hedwigs feathers go grey.

* * *

Far away, completely unaware of what his owl had planned for him, Harry Potter was getting into bed for the night, carefully leaving the window open to let Hedwig come in whenever she decided to return. It wasn't unusual for Hedwig to be gone for days at a time, even when she wasn't delivering a letter, off wherever it was owls went at night, but he was starting to get worried about her.

"Where are you Hedwig?" he spoke out loud, glancing at the empty cage. He sighed in frustration at his inability to do anything and switched of the light, focusing on trying to get some sleep.

It was some unknown hour in the early morning when Harry was woken rudely from an admittedly fitful sleep by a loud, urgent hooting.

Harry struggled to disentangle himself from the sheets, but when confronted with the sight in front of him, even with all of his strange experiences in the wizarding world, he couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. Riding on a very embarrassed looking Hedwig's back, holding an owl sized rein and sitting on the smallest saddle in the world, was the strangest looking black rabbit Harry had ever seen. It was as round as a football, had nearly non-existent front paws, squinty eyes, and what looked like a blue gemstone stamped onto its forehead.

And it was wearing flying goggles.

"H-Hedwig?" Harry stuttered, fumbling for his glasses and sliding them on, bringing the two into sharp focus. Unless his glasses were seriously broken or enchanted, he was not seeing things. The only thing keeping him from completely loosing his cool was that he knew Hedwig wouldn't bring him anything dangerous...

And then the rabbit _spoke_ to him.

"Yo! Harry Potter! Harry Potter the wizard!" it chirped happily raising a paw in greeting.

"You... what are you?" Harry eventually managed to stutter.

"Mokona is not a what!" it said indignantly, dismounting a still very embarrassed looking Hedwig and bouncing across the room to him.

"Mokona is Mokona!" he yelled and then leaped straight into a jumpy Harry's arms, making the poor boy let out a muffled yelp at the sudden movement as his arms were suddenly full of a black ball of warm fuzz.

The bunny even had the audacity to giggle at him.

"Look, you!" Harry fumed trying to keep his voice down and putting the rabbit down firmly on the bed in front of him. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

"Mokona is Mokona!" the creature repeated cheerfully.

"Alright, but what do you want?" Harry asked. "And keep your voice down," he added quickly as Mokona opened his mouth again. "You can't wake my aunt and uncle."

"Really?" Mokona asked with an innocent expression but in a tone of voice that made Harry think he shouldn't have handed over that piece of information.

"Hedwig, why did you bring this thing here?" Harry asked in annoyance, trying to divert attention. Hedwig, however, was too busy tearing the saddle and harness to pieces with her beak and talons to respond.

"Mokona came to find you, rejoice!" Mokona said, bouncing happily in front of Harry.

"Why should I rejoice that you broke into my room in the middle of the night?"

"I didn't break in! I was brought! It's time to go, Harry Potter!"

"Go!? Why would I go anywhere with you?"

"'Cause you have to," the creature said matter-of-factly, almost pouting.

"No. I've had quite enough of being dragged off in the middle of the night, and more than enough of strange creatures telling me what to do during my summer break, thank you very much."

"Hurry _up_!" the creature yelled, bouncing up and down on the bed again.

"No! Keep your voice down!"

"HURRY UP, HARRY POTTER! WE'LL BE LATE!"

"_Shut up!_" Harry yelped and tried to grab the creature, but it was just too fast for him, easily dancing back and forth just beyond his reach. "You're going to wake everyone up!" he whispered furiously as he chased it around the tiny room. Given how badly the incident with Doby ended, he didn't want anything like that happening ever again.

"Then come with me!"

"No!"

"In that case..."

And that's when the creature opened its mouth and generated a massive wind. Harry watched in horror as his precious family photo album was sucked into its mouth and swallowed.

"_No!_" he screeched, forgetting he was supposed to be being quiet.

The creature then proceeded to open its mouth and spit out an album twice its size, completely undamaged. It grinned smugly.

"If you want it back then follow Mokona!" it laughed, swallowing the album again and twirling on the window ledge.

"No!" Harry yelled as it jumped down out of the window and out of his reach. He growled and then fled back to his bed, throwing on some clothes and pocketing his wand before tearing out of his room, shoving his feet into some old trainers on the way.

"What do you think your doing, boy?!" Uncle Vernon yelled, having finally been roused by all the noise, bursting out of the master bedroom wearing an old blue dressing gown, Aunt Petunia wavering behind him.

"I don't have time for you!" Harry yelled, shoving past his Uncle and fleeing down the stairs.

"Fine! Run back to your stupid abnormal Order, and good riddance!" he yelled after Harry as he shot out the door, looking for where the rabbit had landed, not bothering to correct his Uncle's assumption. Let him think whatever he wanted.

Amazingly, the creature was sitting on the gatepost outside the front door, waiting for him, but Mokona smirked and jumped off as soon as he knew Harry had spotted him.

"Wait!" Harry yelped as he scrambled out onto the road and after the rabbit. "Wait!" he yelled again, but the creature kept on bouncing ahead of him.

Adrenaline and anger pushed Harry on through the dark streets after the rabbit. How dare that stupid bunny steal his album! Everything he loved got taken from him, and everything he cared about got hurt! Those photos were all he had left of his family now, and he'd be damned before he let that album get away from him as well.

"Come back!" Harry said, barely restraining himself from simply throwing a curse out at the annoying animal to stop it.

Before he knew what was happening, he found himself facing the rabbit down in a dead end alley near the local public school. Perfect, the little rat was trapped.

"Got you!" he said, drawing his wand. "Now don't make me hurt you. Just give me that back, rabbit."

"Mokona is Mokona! Not a rabbit!" the creature yelled indignantly and then squirmed his way under the fence that ran along one side of the alley.

"_Bloody-!_" Harry swore as it escaped yet again. He threw himself to the ground, scrambling to force himself under the fence after it. If he hadn't been so aggravated at that point in time he might have thought to go over the fence instead of under, but he was so blinded by rage at that point that he forced his (thankfully) scrawny body through the tiny gap. After several minutes of squirming and cursing in the dirt trying to get through the gap he finally felt himself come free and he popped out the other side. He paused and gasped for breath, trying to ignore the burning sensation along his back where it had been scrapped along the bottom of the fence.

"Hello!" the rabbit waved cheerfully from his perch on the top of a lamppost.

"You little-!" Harry started to rant.

_Hold on_, Harry's brain suddenly said, interrupting him as the adrenaline abated enough to let it kick in. _I just went under a fence that should have led into someone's back garden. I could see the house behind the fence before I went under it... so how did I end up in another back alley?_

"Where are we?" Harry asked instead, puffing and getting his breath back as he glanced around him.

"Another dimension," the creature said matter of factly. "If you hadn't been so mad you might have noticed the change while you were squirming in the earth just like a little wormy!"

"Stop saying things like that so cheerfully!" Harry yelled, pulling out his wand for the second time. Forget the restrictions on underage wizardry. The first thing he'd do once he'd caught it was a silencing charm.

"Why did you bring me here?"

"'Cause it's the fastest way to get where we're going!" it bounced. Did that thing ever stop moving? "Now hurry, if you stay here too long we'll get trapped! This way!"

"What?" Harry yelped as the creature bounced down onto the ground and led him forward again. "Wait, you stupid-!"

"This way!" it laughed and it bounced between two trees planted very close together

"Wait!" Harry yelped as he ran forward and forced his body through yet another narrow space again. And this time, now he that was thinking of it, he did feel something shift all around him, like something was changing the world around him. The moment both his feet were planted on the other side of the trees he realised everything had changed.

Where the previous places had been quiet suburban pathways, this place was full of noise despite the early hour. The area was built up and well developed, and the air was more pungent. The last time he remembered being somewhere like this was when he'd been taken through the busy streets of London.

Thoroughly confused and increasingly apprehensive, Harry looked around for the rabbit.

And realized it was gone.

* * *

**Lizeth**: Tada! Serena wrote the majority of this, and I was thrilled when she threw in Mokona. X3 Hopefully with a co-author (with _much_ better time-management skills than mine!) we can keep this story moving along.

Thanks for reading!


	2. Threshold

**Serena Inverse**: Sorry for the wait everyone, but we have finally finished chapter 2. This chapter really didn't want to be written, but I think we finally nailed it. I hope you all enjoy it!

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**Sweet Dreams**  
**By Serena Inverse and Lizeth Hallington**

**Chapter 2**

Angry and upset, Harry surged from the narrow alleyway and looked around for any sight of his quarry. He stood on a busier road, one that was more commercial than residential, but he couldn't see anything he recognized. A few people were milling about in the early morning, dozy expressions on their faces as they struggled to be more awake than they felt.

But no rabbit.

_Dammit! No!_ He couldn't lose that rabbit now, not after coming this far. Leaning against a wall for support, Harry quickly took stock of his situation:

a) He had no idea where he was.  
b) He had nothing on him save his clothes and his wand.  
c) The Order didn't know he'd gone.

Harry's eyes widened fractionally as that last thought hit him with some alarm. He remembered that when he'd left, his uncle had been yelling about him running back to the Order. If that was what Uncle Vernon really thought, then the man definitely wouldn't bother to tell anyone his nephew had gone, and the Order would assume Harry was still at home. It would be at least a week before someone, probably Hermione, would notice the absence of his letters and send someone to investigate, if anyone could be spared in the middle of the war.

He clenched his fists. He really was in trouble.

And yet somehow worse than that, he thought, as sadness welled up under his anger, was that he'd lost the album. Of all the stupid, hurtful things that could happen after everything else this year, he'd gone and let it be stolen. In his head, he could almost hear Remus and Mrs. Weasley berating him for prioritizing a book over his own safety -- for running out into the unknown once again without thought -- but that collection of photos meant a lot, and losing-

He fought down the urge to hit something and started walking forward, anything rather then sitting around fuming. He could at least try and figure out where he was. There were people around and the signs were in English. Worse come to worse, he could ask someone for directions. Probably. Maybe.

Anger and determination flared once more. No matter what, he _wasn't_ going back without his album.

Walking down the street, he glanced around constantly, looking for any landmark or signpost that could give him a hint as to where he was. Thankfully it didn't take him long to find one. As he stood at the end of a road junction, watching the traffic slowly crawl forward, he caught a sight of a major signpost. One way said "St. Pancras Church", and the other said "University College of London."

_Well, that solved one problem_, Harry thought to himself, re-evaluating the situation given the new information. _So, London._

As places to be stranded went, this wasn't too bad. He'd been to London before with Hagrid and the Weasleys, and he could remember a bit of the layout of the big city. Not to mention he knew where the entrance to Diagon Alley was, and with the number of tourists and school groups, no one was going to question him wandering around by himself.

Still, knowing where he was didn't help with his current problem; all it did was give him a bit of orientation. He stared down the roads forking in the two different directions, wondering which way should he go. He really had no idea which path an annoying black rabbit would prefer, so in the end he discreetly pulled out his wand and spun it on the ground. Five minutes later he had crossed the junction and was walking down Euston Road towards St. Pancras Church.

Passing the old church a little while later, he couldn't help but be impressed by its structure. The front looked almost Grecian, covered as it was with many pillars supporting a distinctive triangular roof. Towering above it was a tall tower with a clock and bell, and topping it of like a cherry on a cake was a simple cross perched on the roof. Of course, it was nowhere near as grand as Hogwarts, but it seemed to have a history and personality of its own. He was still taking in the view when he suddenly felt a chill and shook himself. The cold crept into his bones and he wished he'd at least had the foresight to throw on a jacket. Mornings in London were somewhat damp, though any fog would later turn to smog as the afternoon sun burned the water droplets away, but in any case, he had more important things to do than stand around admiring old buildings.

Turning away, he walked on, amazed by the depths of the crowd as he realized he was in the very heart of the city now. Quickly, he changed course; he wouldn't be able to spot the rabbit in the thick crowds. A few blocks and a near-collision later, he rubbed his shoulders and neck uncomfortably. They were cramping up as he walked, as if he was carrying a heavy rucksack. It was no wonder his body felt heavy, given the uneasy and interrupted sleep he'd been having of late. Harry scowled. The rabbit had only added to his problems.

He dragged himself on through the streets, which were becoming even busier, even as he headed away from the city centre. He still couldn't find the rabbit and as time crept on with no luck, his calm determination turned into frustration.

As he heard Big Ben chiming the hour in the distance, he realized he'd been walking around for hours. He growled in annoyance and slammed himself down onto a nearby bench. The more time went on, the more difficult it was going to be to find his album. The fact that they were in such a large city made it even worse. There were a thousand and one places something so small could hide from him.

He held his head in his hands, what was he going to do? Should he risk using magic? Could something as simple as a Point-Me spell be detected by the Ministry?

"Hey, are you alright?" asked a voice, interrupting his thoughts. Harry looked up and saw a dark-haired man, possibly no older than 20, looking at him with concern. He had mismatched eyes, one blue and the other an odd brownish-gold... or was a trick of the light hitting the monocle perched on his nose? He was dressed casually in black pants, with a sleeveless bubble vest closed over a white shirt. One hand was occupied with a plastic bag of groceries, his arm cradling another bag full, while the other hand was poised over the doorknob of a shop Harry hadn't even noticed before. The man juggled the paper bag on his arm and frowned.

Harry stared, unsure, before finally answering with a wooden, "I'm fine."

The older teen raised in eyebrow, pausing disbelievingly at the threshold of what Harry realised was a darkened café. Turning the key in the lock, he gestured with his head.

"Come in for a bit, then. You look a little chilled."

Harry flushed, even though it was true. The clothes he had on were almost worn to pieces, being one of the few sets of Muggle clothes he owned that didn't hang off him like a circus tent.

"I'm fine," he repeated stiffly. "Thank you."

"Help me put my groceries away and I'll make you some tea," the other returned steadily.

"I don't want any bloody tea!" Harry snapped. Jerking to his feet, Harry's knees buckled as a shudder suddenly rippled through his body, making his head reel sickeningly. He threw out a hand and caught the back of the bench for support. The heaviness came back and it seemed like it was going to drag him back down onto the bench. The cold feeling he'd been ignoring seemed to spread furiously through his body, making his chest clench weakly.

Meanwhile, the stranger was still standing patiently at the door, brows creased slightly in concern, holding the shopping bags out for Harry to take. "Please."

Swallowing dryly, Harry carefully walked across the few steps between them and accepted the bags. The man pushed the door open, a chime sounding merrily at the motion, and walked into the store with a small nod.

"Come in."

Harry watched the door swing slowly shut and caught it before it could close all the way. After a few heartbeats of deliberation, he pushed the door open, hearing the chime ring again, and took a tentative step into the store, and then another. A burst of warmth flooded his system as soon as he stood fully inside the threshold, and his body suddenly felt as though an invisible weight had been removed. He was still tired, but the bone-aching weariness was no longer there.

Blinking in confusion, he turned back to study the doorway more carefully.

"Hey, over here," the man called from across the sea of wooden tables, interrupting before Harry could take more than a cursory glance. "The kitchen's this way."

"...Right."

Harry found himself moving almost mechanically. Years of working and doing chores for Aunt Petunia everyday made the familiar task reassuring in an odd way. Under the strange man's direction, Harry put things away neatly into various cupboards, while the man himself moved to the side and started to brew some tea.

Harry glanced around the café as he worked, taking stock of his surroundings. It was a bright and airy place, decorated in comfortable neutral colours. There were plants in various unobtrusive places and a large glass counter displaying a selection of home made cakes and pastries in a prominent position. There were tables and chairs spaced out to give people room to move around, and even a corner with two large comfortable sofas. The only thing out of the ordinary were the tiny lights with star shaped bulbs that were strung up across the ceiling and around some of the plants, and the strange rectangle canvases with foreign symbols attached to some of the walls.

"Like the place?"

"It's nice." Harry ventured, looking up from his task.

"It's called Sweet Dreams. I own this place." The young man smiled at him.

"Oh," Harry said simply, wondering why he looked vaguely amused as he said that name. Well whatever, as soon as he'd gotten something to drink he'd be out of here and back on the trail of his album.

* * *

Watanuki watched the boy busying about the kitchen putting things away. It was obvious from the speed and ease with which he moved at he was used to housework. As the colour steadily returned to the boy's face, the shopkeeper gave a quiet sigh of relief.

It was a good thing he'd found the boy when he did. Any longer walking around with that many spirits clinging to him and he'd be in serious trouble. Since Watanuki had moved to London to set up his shop, he'd seen a number of people with spectres clinging to them, but rarely so heavily as they did on that boy. It wasn't always spirits of the dead, necessarily. Bad habits tended to manifest on some level as well, especially once a person lost control of their behavioural quirk. At that point the habit would start taking on a life of its own, weighing on the very person that perpetrated it. Watanuki had seen plenty of that in his previous job, though his own shop now catered occasionally to troubled customers of a different variety.

The kid obviously didn't have the same level of extrasensory perception that Watanuki had. After all, he'd shown no signs of seeing of the multitude of black smoky spectres clinging to him as he walked along the street to collapse, finally, on a bench. But then the real question was, why had so many spirits been attracted to him in the first place? If he couldn't see spirits then that left Watanuki with two alternatives: he'd either been near something supernatural recently and was still giving off energy from it, or he was suffering from something emotionally and all that negativity had drawn the spirits in. Looking at the boy's tense posture and the remembering the aggravation he'd shown earlier when Watanuki asked him to step inside, it was easy enough to guess which it was. Fortunately the _kekkai_, the strong spiritual barrier set up around the store, had easily dispelled the spirits before they could do too much more damage, but...

Watanuki sighed as he gathered two cups from the cupboard. If the kid was left like this, it was just going to happen again and again as soon as he left the shop.

"Tea's ready," he said as he threw the used tealeaves into the bin. "What would you like with it?"

"With it?"

"Yes," Watanuki said, walking over and tapping the glass counter displaying the cakes and treats he'd baked early that morning. "Anything's fine. My treat, for helping me."

The boy looked sceptical, but the longing in his eyes as he stared at the counter was obvious. Watanuki smiled.

"How about some apple pie?"

"Sounds nice," Harry admitted.

Cutting a slice of pie, Watanuki directed Harry to the bin of eating utensils. They walked over to one of the empty tables a moment later and settled down. The boy was still obviously tense and distracted.

"So, may I have your name?" Watanuki asked, passing over the tea and trying to get the young man to focus on him gently.

"Huh?"

"I think it's nice to know the name of the person your dining with," Watanuki said as he sipped his tea. "But perhaps it's just me?"

"No, I'm Harry... Potter." He sounded like he was reluctant to give his full name; maybe this boy did know something of the supernatural.

"Nice to meet you Harry. I'm Kimihiro Watanuki."

"Err..."

"Just Watanuki is fine," the man conceded, fairly used to the reaction. If his last name sounded odd on English lips, his full name sounded worse. Harry sighed. Odd. There was something different about the boy's relief.

"Ah." Harry took a bite of the pie, then froze. "This is really good!"

"Please help yourself," Watanuki encouraged as he started to work on his tea. "And if I may ask, what brings you to London? You seemed aggravated when I found you."

"...Was it that obvious?" Harry mumbled, a bit embarrassed.

"Well," Watanuki huffed, his smile turning somewhat wry. "Let's just say it was hard not to notice, given my line of work."

Harry fiddled with his cup, rotating the handle from one side to another. Back and forth. Left. Right. The man waited patiently, sipping on his own drink and seemingly relaxing into his chair. Harry was reminded slightly of Remus, who also had an unobtrusive sort of presence. It was a distinctly different feeling from Dumbledore's all too knowing aura, though that omniscience had finally cracked last year...

"There's something I have to find," Harry finally admitted, raking a hand through dark hair, "but I honestly have no idea where to begin looking."

Watanuki tilted his head and hummed contemplatively, then set his drink aside and crossed his arms on the table.

"If it's really something you need, then things have a way of finding its way to you eventually."

Blinking, Harry made a noise that was half laugh, half bark.

"What?" the other asked.

"It's weird. I just remembered, a friend of mine basically told me the same thing."

"Good friend?"

"Yeah, one of the best... She's a bit loopy though," Harry said, a small grin twitching his lips.

"That's the best kind of friend to have," the older teen grinned back, suddenly looking years younger. Harry shrugged sheepishly.

Watanuki might have said more, but both of them blinked and looked up as the door chimed and another customer walked in. The shopkeeper was instantly on his feet and calling a greeting. He glanced at the clock before turning back to Harry.

"Harry Potter, was it?" he asked.

"Yeah," Harry confirmed, trying not squirm in discomfort at the sudden sharpness in the man's eyes. Did he recognize the name? Wasn't he a Muggle after all...? But Watanuki only nodded once, almost imperceptibly, and smiled.

"I hope you find what you're looking for."

"I- yeah," Harry agreed, perturbed. "Thanks."

"Take your time," Watanuki said, and went to serve his customer, leaving Harry feeling like he had missed something vitally important. It was a disconcerting feeling.

For a few minutes, Harry sat and watched the activity in the shop, puzzling over the events that brought him here. Apparently the shop opened at eight, and it seemed as if the customers flowed steadily in and out from that point on. Some of them were obviously regulars, given the familiar way they greeted the young storeowner. Pleasant laughter and conversation filled the air.

Somehow being in the warm comfortable shop tempted him to linger, but he knew he couldn't. The longer he stayed here the lower the chance of him ever finding the rabbit and his album. Despite the oddness of the man he'd been very kind to him and Harry somehow couldn't face saying goodbye. Resolving to return someday and pay the man back, Harry waited till Watanuki's back was turned and quietly slipped out of the shop. He quickly hurried down the street till he was out of view of the café and only then stopped to catch his breath. The chill was still gone and his body didn't feel at all heavy. He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax and focus. It was as he was standing there, wondering which way he should go next, that he caught sight of it.

Standing on a corner, was an unnaturally large black dog. It had its head up and was sniffing the air as if it was trying to track something. Harry's breath caught in his throat as he stared at it.

_It can't be. It can't be. It can't be._

Didn't anyone else notice it? Was he hallucinating? A second later the dog turned its head and was gone, bounding around the corner and out of view. Harry's legs were running before he could even think and he found himself pounding down the street after it, his heart beating loudly in his ears.

_No, wait!_

Involuntarily, his hopes bubbled up in his chest, his voice breaking out in a desperate shout.

_Wait wait wait!_

"_**SIRIUS!**_"

Back down the street, inside the safety of his warded shop, Watanuki Kimihiro stiffened as the plate in his hands cracked and fell, shattering against the floor in a crash of porcelain and drawing the concerned shouts of several patrons. Oblivious to the attention, Watanuki turned in the direction Harry had gone and stared with wide eyes at a point only he could see.

"Oh no..."

* * *

**= Authors' Question and Answer Session = **

**Q**: Was that Padfoot?!  
**A**: _Kufufufu_... Wouldn't you like to know?

**Q**: Wait, there are ghosts at Hogwarts, so can't Harry see spirits?  
**A**: Only if they were wizards/witches during their lifetime, or if they're magically manifested like Peeves, who's been feeding on magical energy since who-knows-when. Other spectres are on an entirely different wavelength, so to speak.

**Q**: Why did Harry suddenly become a spook-magnet?  
**A**: Lots of reasons. It's a combination of his trip through dimensions and his emotional instability, plus his desire to see the dead. See Watanuki's speculations.

**Q**: So does Watanuki have normal customers too?  
**A**: Yep. His shop has shortened hours for normal customers though.

**Lizeth**: Phew! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. We really appreciate your support! Writing this chapter was slow and really painfully difficult, but we got through it, somehow (thank goodness for Serena's help).

See you next chapter! Hopefully it'll be more exciting and easier to write. XP


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